Saturday, 30 January 2016

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea. ~Bernard-Paul HerouxWe are expecting a snow storm today so I made a quick dessert to enjoy for the weekend. Thank you BJ at Sweet Nothings for the inspiration!

Here it is the end of January and I must tell you I am elated that February is almost here. I am counting down the days till springtime because I do not like the cold weather.

However, the cold weather does have its advantages. When Jack Frost etches designs on the window panes, nothing beats a warm cup of tea or coffee, hot chocolate or hot apple cider. Or a big bowl of seafood chowder!The other day I had a hankering for some seafood chowder. So I made some and it was delicious! I have made this for Christmas a few times for a special treat. This is my own recipe which I adapted from a simple clam chowder.Seafood ChowderMelt 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan Add 2-3 TBSP minced onion1/4 cup chopped celeryCook over medium heat until onion is limp.Cut up 2 cups of potatoes into cubesAdd one small carrot sliced, for colour more than anything1/2 tsp salt or more depending on tastepinch of pepperAdd 1 cup boiling water to onion mixture with the potatoes and carrots.Cover and cook for about fifteen minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring often.Add 1-10 oz. can baby clams with the juice and reheat.

Add 1 cup chopped crab meat Add I cup thawed scallops. I used the small ones.

Heat altogether until hot.

Add 2-1/2 to 2-2/3 cups hot milk Heat until hot but do not boil. Season to taste and serve immediately. Makes about five large or eight small servings.I have served the chowder in my buffalo check bowls accompanied by warm biscuits. Just the thing on a cold winter's day.

The tulips are in the grocery store now and I picked some up for my tea table. I love how they bring a touch of springtime into one's home. Don't you love it when the tulips dance?

I decided to use my winter white tea ware today. Underneath it all is my crocheted tablecloth which I think resembles snowflakes.Soft and pretty, the tea ware looks wonderful with just about any decor you surround yourself with. I am using my new snowflake teapot again today as well as Skye McGhieteacups and a few pieces of JBRose Chintz. Do you see the vintage crocheted pot holder?

It was a gift from a blogger friend. Isn't it sweet! Thank you, my dear friend, you know who you are!

For dessert, I made this quick and easy chocolate pie from a Jello cooked pudding and pie mix and poured it into a ready made Oreo crumb crust.

When my children were growing up, it was usually my habit to make two pies every weekend. Every kind of pie you can think of, and they were all made from scratch. Although this one is from a mix, Hubby will be happy to enjoy a slice of it with his tea.

When there is a storm brewing I try to make something quick and this filled the bill today. Sorry about the shadows and poor lighting. The snow is really coming down and it is a very dreary day out there.

Enjoy your cuppa tea and your weekend. See you on Monday for No Place Like Home.Take care everyone! If you wish to go to that post simply click here.Life is like a teacup to be filled to the brimand enjoyed with friends. ~ unknown

Friday, 29 January 2016

Hello dear friends ~ Have you noticed a decline in your blog followers lately?I was going to post this next week but when I saw how upset one of my blog friends was, I decided to post it today. {My other post that I had on earlier will go back on tomorrow.}I remember when I first began blogging, how excited I was when I reached 20 followers. I felt like I had made twenty new friends. Then over time, the number climbed. I was so happy that folks were enjoying my blog. When I reached 100, 200, then 500, I was over the moon. I know most of you bloggers can relate to me.Which brings me to this post today.... Just before Christmas my followers started to disappear. And since Christmas, I have lost well over one hundred and fifty followers. I have also lost ten or more on my Christmas Pudding blog.Every day I logged on, I discovered that the number had dropped again significantly. I watched as little by little, the numbers continued to drop. I felt like I was losing my friends and I didn't know why. I thought that people didn't like my blog any longer or maybe they found it boring. It wasn't a very nice feeling.

I was alarmed and thought maybe someone had hacked into my account so I emailed my son who has designed a few web sites for people. He wasn't sure what the problem was.Over the holidays I was busy so I forgot about it. Then the other day I logged on and discovered that the number had dropped significantly again over night. I checked a few of my blogger friends' blogs and their numbers were down too and I wondered if I had missed something. I am not very computer savvy, I'm afraid.Then I noticed an announcement on my blog. This is what it said....

December 21, 2015

"In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

"We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow."

So, this is what has been going on. If our friends and followers don't have a Google account they will be removed from our accounts automatically.Now perhaps you all knew about this and I'm the last to find out. This makes me sad! Being my own blog administrator, I want folks to be able to read and follow along if they wish. Now, they have to have a Google account in order to follow a blog. So, dear friends, if you use a non-Google account to follow my blog or any blog, you will have to sign up for a Google account and re-follow my blog and any others that you were following. Did anybody else out there know about this? If you would like to have a Google account you may click here to make one. A blogger friend of mine once compared Blogland to a friendly village and when some of our blogger friends go missing, we feel it deeply. I hope that very soon this will all work itself out. In the meantime, let's stick together and be there for one another. We are after all, a friendly village in this big land of Blog.

Monday, 25 January 2016

Welcome friends to No Place Like Home! I do hope that those of you who live on the east coast of the US have stayed safe this past weekend. We are fortunate in that the storm missed us and went out to sea. Believe me when I tell you that I am VERY THANKFUL it missed us! After last winter, which has left many of us in the Atlantic region with PTSD symptoms, it was lovely not having to contend with another monster storm.In my post the other day, I talked about HOPE.

I also made some sticky date pudding. The recipe you can find on my sidebar under 'Search This Blog' because I have shared it before.

If you missed this post you may click here to read it.Thank you everyone for participating in my party last week. You all have so many great ideas and shared some wonderful recipes. What a talented bunch you are! It is always difficult for me to feature just a few of your posts because there are so many wonderful posts to choose from. So, as I have been doing lately, I have broken them down into categories. Home DecorBetty @ My Cozy Corner shared her pretty guest room in blue and white with sunny touches of yellow.

Debbie-Dabble shared her wonderful winter decorating for the outside of her home.

DIY/ThriftingJudy @ Gold Country Cottage shared some wonderful ideas including what she did with two of her wooden stands.

RecipesNora @Teacup Tales shared her recipe for her lovely Tea Time Truffles.

And Janet @ Rosemary and Thyme shared a bit of colour and romance with her pretty tea vignette.

Crafting/Sewing, Crochet, quilting

Mrs T @ Across My Kitchen Table shared her wonderful cross stitch and needle work. A lot of love went into the making of these.

Congratulations ladies! Once the warm weather arrives, there will be gardeningincluded.

As a courtesy and if you wish to be featured, please include a link back to this party.

Now let's see what you are creating in your home to make it a cozy place to come home to for your family, your friends, and yourself.

Lord, this humble house we'd keep Sweet with play and calm with sleep. Help us so that we may give Beauty to the lives we live. Let Thy love and let Thy grace Shine upon our dwelling place. - Edgar A. Guest

Please link up any of the following:
Tea time, tablescapes, cooking and baking, recipes, antiquing, artwork, bird watching - because I adore our little feathered friends, ceramics, crafts, collections, crocheting/knitting, quilting/sewing, floral arranging, gardening, home decor, hospitality, photography, refinishing furniture, renos, thrifting, ect... Did I mention tea time? That also means a trip to a tea shop too because I love to hear all about that. Perhaps you have a new member of the family, a new baby or fur baby, I would love to see them too.

Friday, 22 January 2016

Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all. ~ Emily DickinsonHello friends. That beautiful quote always reminds me of a song bird that never stops singing. He is so happy that spring is on its way that his heart is overflowing with music so he sings with all his might.

It also reminds me of the new kitten my son just adopted. This kitten was found on the streets of Denver starving and with a broken hip. The Humane Society believes he was hit by a car and he was transported to Boulder.

My son went to the Humane Society to adopt a kitten and there were no doubt several kittens to choose from but my son with his big heart took pity on this kitty and took him home with him. I'm sure the kitty is happy and feeling very grateful for having been rescued by such a kind caregiver. It will take a few weeks for his hip to heal but meanwhile he is safe and warm and well cared for. My son has given this once abandoned kitty HOPE.

This also brings to mind Earl Grey the abandoned 'dalbrador' that Theodosia adopted in the Tea Shop Mysteries written by Laura Childs.

Theodosia gave Earl Grey hope when she found him scrawny and shivering in the alley behind her tea shop. She took him in, fed him, and named him. He became her companion and is now a therapy dog, bringing joy to seniors and children at nursing homes and hospitals. Have you read the Tea Shop Mysteries? They are fun reading! I have all of them. They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for. ~ Tom Bodett

What would life be like if we didn't have hope? Anytime we reach out to someone who is hurting, hungry or alone, we are giving that person hope. This also extends to animals.

I can think of many instances when I hoped for something. Many times I got what I hoped for because I had prayed and God saw fit to bless me with my request.Sometimes it has been just a very little thing and oftentimes it has been a very big thing. Like the time my mother was taken two hours away from her family and it took much time and effort for her family to make the visit. She was lonely and didn't see her family very often. I asked God to have her moved back down to Charlottetown so we could visit her on a regular basis. When the call came, I sat down and cried. I couldn't believe it had finally happened {after two years} and she was being moved back down to Charlottetown, only ten minutes away. It was a very big deal with a big story behind it. I won't go into any details today but suffice it to say, this was a miracle! Hope became a reality.What do you hope for today? It could be a very big thing like a healing for your body or someone elses', safety from a big storm that is bearing down on the east coast of the US, or a very little thing such as a longed for teacup being spotted at your favourite thrift store. Whatever you hope for, I pray you receive it.It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. ~Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young GirlTime for tea ~ I am having my tea in this VistaMason teacup which was a gift from a friend. A few short years ago I had no red/pink transferware nor was there any to be found around here. But slowly, it has been coming my way. I had hoped to begin collecting it as I do favour the red and pink. I am happy that I now have a nice collection of it.

The little silver spoon was a gift from my cousin who collects vintage spoons among other things.The pretty plate was a wonderful find at an antique shop last Fall. It is made in England by Copeland called Spode Tower.

The plate and the teacup are almost a perfect match which is one of the many reasons I love transferware. The patterns are all complimentary to each other which makes it very charming!

Won't you join me for a cup of tea and some sticky date pudding?

Where there is tea there is friendship and serenity.

Mmm, and is it ever good!

The warm pudding and sauce melted the whipped cream so it ran down and pooled on to the plate.

Thank you for your visit. I hope you are enjoying your day today and be sure to treat yourself to a warm cup of tea or coffee in a pretty cup and saucer. Have a lovely weekend, dear friends, and stay safe!

But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. ~1 Corinthians 13:13
I am joining the following parties as well~

Monday, 18 January 2016

Welcome friends to another No Place Like Home! The beauty of the home is order;The blessing of the home is contentment;The glory of the home is hospitality;The crown of the home is godliness. ~Author unknownThe other day I shared with you some changes I made in my living room decor. The addition of a favourite colour has me feeling more at home with the room. Aqua is indeed right up there with pink and green as favourite colours of mine.

I had purchased new drapery panels and had new pillows made. I have a little more tweaking to do but you get the idea. I also enjoyed a cup of tea in my vintage teacup, Veronica, which was a shower gift from my mother when I got married. Notice the aqua blue roses!

If you missed this post, you may view it here.Once again, you have amazed me with your creations and ideas. You are a very talented group of ladies. I have broken down the posts into categories for my features and there are a lot of features today. Enjoy!If you have been featured here at No Place Like Home please feel free to take my button for your blog.

Memories/Misc.Valerie @ Cottage Making Mommy shared some lovely memories of her grandparents and her grandmother's recipe books.

Congratulations ladies and thank you dear friends for your participation in last week's party. As a courtesy, and if you would like to be featured, you should have a link back to my party. Now I'm excited to see what you are creating in your home to make it a cozy place to come home to, for your family, your friends, and yourself.Have a lovely day everyone and the Lord bless you!Lord, this humble house we'd keep Sweet with play and calm with sleep. Help us so that we may give Beauty to the lives we live. Let Thy love and let Thy grace Shine upon our dwelling place. - Edgar A. Guest

Friday, 15 January 2016

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hello dear ones. I hope you all had a lovely week. Can you believe January is already half over? I must admit, I don't mind seeing it slip by because we're that much closer to spring again. Yay!Several months ago I had mentioned how much I missed the colour aqua and teal/turquoise in my home. I think it must reflect my love of the beach and to me, it's just a feel good colour.

Two years ago I had purchased two wheat coloured recliners to replace the two pink chairs I had and I had covered my aqua and pink floral sofa with a similar coloured cover until I find a new sofa. I was on a neutral kick and discovered that I wasn't happy with neutrals. I needed some colour and Hubby agreed.So, began my search for some of that beloved aqua/teal/turquoise to incorporate into my living room. I began with two of these teal cushions sporting a button.

Next I found a curvy teal glass bowl for the coffee table.

Getting new curtain panels proved to be a real challenge. When I had my aqua and pink decor, I had pink and white lace panels on the window. Then I switched to mushroom sheers for a different look with a new paint colour on the walls. It took me several visits around the shops and three different orders from one particular store to finally get what I wanted. I was quite struck on the light aqua with the bird and botanical pattern. They are grommet panels and I've never had those before so I had to purchase a new rod too. It is old brasstone to match the grommets. My son put it up for me while he was home for Christmas.

The pictures make them look light blue but they really are light aqua. I still needed cushions to pull it all together and I couldn't find any that were suitable. So a dear friend offered to make pillow covers for me out of an extra curtain panel I had ordered for that. She did a lovely job and here they are. She made two square and one oblong.

Each pillow is adorned with a different botanical print and one has a bird. You all know how much I love birds! I think the pillows help pull the whole room together.

I still have a little material left over and I may do something with that too. Perhaps a runner for the mantel or one of the tables. We'll see.

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. ~ Jane Austen

When the sun is out, the room is flooded with light and it is just very cozy.

I still have to find a rug to replace the little one under the table and some accessories but you get the picture. I am much happier with the room now. It is more me.I am playing with my new camera which was a Christmas gift. It is taking some getting use to. The light is streaming in and is casting a golden glow on the tea table. Whisper pink tulips lend their beauty to the table.

Now, shall we have a wee nosh? I am having crab salad in a buttery croissant; a nice change from sweets. Of which I've had too many over the holidays!

The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose. ~George Gissing

My tea is Earl Grey which I am sipping from my Royal Albert Veronica teacup.

The teacup was a shower gift from my mother when I got married. I love all the gold gilding adorning this beautiful teacup which also has lovely aqua blue roses on it.

I love it when you visit and I hope you enjoyed seeing my updated room. See you on Monday for No Place Like Home. Now I'm going to put my feet up and enjoy the newest issue of Victoria magazine. Enjoy your weekend, my lovely friends!

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Welcome to Rose Chintz Cottage

Hello! My name is Sandi and I am delighted you have stopped by. I hope you will find friendship here as I share about my faith, my family, and romantic cottage decorating, as well as my collection of tea things. My yellow door is always open and I would love for you to leave a comment so I'll know you were here. I enjoy making friends so please hang around for a while and let's get to know one another. God bless you!

"Live in such a way that the world will be glad you did." ~ Max Lucado

My Sweet Kindred Spirits.

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Christmas Pudding

Please check out my Christmas blog ~ CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

"Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it's what they bring to the world that really counts." ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

I was Featured at A Delightsome Life

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me. ~ C.S. Lewis

About Me

I live a happy life in Green Gables country with my sweet hubby who is a retired pastor. We have three wonderful sons and five darling grandchildren. I love being a home maker and I thrive on bringing beauty and comfort into my home for my family and friends to enjoy. Life is made even richer by my faith in God who has taught me, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." I am so happy you have stopped by and I welcome you through my yellow door.

Rose Chintz Cottage

THANK YOU for not copying/reproducing photos, and written material on this blog without my permission. All images, photos, and writings appearing on this blog are my own unless otherwise stated. All Rights Reserved 2008- 2019

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"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon - instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today. " ~ Dale Carnegie

Lady on the beach - by Danish painter Michael Peter Ancher

Rose Chintz and Lilacs

My Roses and teapots are two of my favourite things

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul." ~ Henry Ward Beecher

The Velveteen Rabbit

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't become ugly, except to people who don't understand. "~ The Velveteen Rabbit

Thank you for visiting Rose Chintz Cottage. Please come back soon as I love the company.

Lord, we know that our life on this earth is so short compared to eternity. Bless us, fill us, use us to tell of Your love and goodness as much as we can and for as long as we can until we see You. Amen.